In a previous blog, I asked the question, "Why can't we be happy?" And I answered that question by noting that we cannot be happy because too many of us are competing for the inalienable rights offered all human beings by our Creator: truth, freedom, courage, beauty, and love. These are the heritage with which we have been blessed, although they will be realized in our personal and social lives only if we have the wisdom and commitment to make our heritage a reality.
But herein is the problem. We seem not even to agree on what those inalienable rights mean. What is truth? We remain floundering in the insanity of misinformation. What is freedom? We confuse authoritarianism with freedom to do whatever benefits us. What is beauty? We are seduced with ostentatious glamor that we call beauty. And what is love? We live in the fleeting encampments of superficial titillation that we fool ourselves to believe is love.
Driven by power, hyped-up by soundtracks in stores and malls for the promotion of spending and buying, disoriented by mega churches whose religion became entertainment, drifting in the sea of professional sports whose logos reflect creatures confined to captivity in zoos and shrinking worlds, frightened by permeable borders that no longer protect us from others whose habitats are being destroyed—our transcendent rights of courage, truth, freedom, beauty, and love appear to float over the horizon of our once magnificent planet as time nears the midnight hour of darkness.
But not totally and not yet. To reach for a metaphor or image that helps us frame the meaning of this moment in which we are living, I turn to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Do not think that this is an elitist group of academicians who have nothing to do with our down-to-earth title of this writing, "Why can we not be happy?". In fact, the work of the Bulletin has everything to do with our happiness—and our survival. In fact, the Bulletin began at another time when the survival of the world was at risk. This is the way they tell their story.
The Bulletin began as an emerging action created by scientists who saw an
immediate need for a public reckoning in the aftermath of the atomic bombings
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Our mission was to urge scientists to help shape
national and international policy. A second mission was to help the public
understand what the bombings meant for humanity.
And the creative way that original group devised was to portray the face of a clock with a minute and hour hand. Midnight on the clock would symbolize final destruction—doom—and that is why it became known as the Doomsday Clock. In 1947, for example, when the doomsday clock was begun, the minute hand was set at 7 minutes to midnight. In the
75+ years since that first setting, the minute hand has been changed 25 times in response to existential threats.
Where is it presently? At 90 seconds before midnight, the minute hand is closest to midnight than it has ever been before. And like other readers, you probably have questions: Who determines the proximity of the minute hand to the midnight hour? What are the factors that influence the declsion makers?
Let's begin with that last question. The factors that move the minute hand so close to midnight are the following:
You can see what concerns the panel of atomic scientists who balance these potential destructive concerns with the urgent need to contain them in the service of avoiding catastrophic mayhem not only within the laboratories of research but also within and between nation states. In addition, we must consider the outliers who want to control the potentialities of their power for their own narcissistic benefit but also, in some most alarming instances, for the purpose of destroying civilization itself.
Thus, the question in our title evolves.
Today, it is more seemly to ask not, "Why can't we be happy?", but rather, "How can we be happy?" Well, of course, it does us no good to despair or to throw up our hands in helpless defeat. Yes, it is indeed 90 seconds before midnight. Yes, there are a significant number of our population who are (1) ignorant of the fact, (2) dismissive of the destructive potential facing us, (3) lost in anger, divisiveness, and paranoia, (4) defiant in belief that all of this is liberal political propaganda, etc.
And, as I remind my analysands and members of my dream group, I have no record of dreams that suggest our end is near. Sure, we have warning dreams, but everything I pick up in my dreams and the dreams of others is that we have time, but we must be conscious.
What are you dreaming? The clock keeps ticking!
But herein is the problem. We seem not even to agree on what those inalienable rights mean. What is truth? We remain floundering in the insanity of misinformation. What is freedom? We confuse authoritarianism with freedom to do whatever benefits us. What is beauty? We are seduced with ostentatious glamor that we call beauty. And what is love? We live in the fleeting encampments of superficial titillation that we fool ourselves to believe is love.
Driven by power, hyped-up by soundtracks in stores and malls for the promotion of spending and buying, disoriented by mega churches whose religion became entertainment, drifting in the sea of professional sports whose logos reflect creatures confined to captivity in zoos and shrinking worlds, frightened by permeable borders that no longer protect us from others whose habitats are being destroyed—our transcendent rights of courage, truth, freedom, beauty, and love appear to float over the horizon of our once magnificent planet as time nears the midnight hour of darkness.
But not totally and not yet. To reach for a metaphor or image that helps us frame the meaning of this moment in which we are living, I turn to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Do not think that this is an elitist group of academicians who have nothing to do with our down-to-earth title of this writing, "Why can we not be happy?". In fact, the work of the Bulletin has everything to do with our happiness—and our survival. In fact, the Bulletin began at another time when the survival of the world was at risk. This is the way they tell their story.
The Bulletin began as an emerging action created by scientists who saw an
immediate need for a public reckoning in the aftermath of the atomic bombings
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Our mission was to urge scientists to help shape
national and international policy. A second mission was to help the public
understand what the bombings meant for humanity.
And the creative way that original group devised was to portray the face of a clock with a minute and hour hand. Midnight on the clock would symbolize final destruction—doom—and that is why it became known as the Doomsday Clock. In 1947, for example, when the doomsday clock was begun, the minute hand was set at 7 minutes to midnight. In the
75+ years since that first setting, the minute hand has been changed 25 times in response to existential threats.
Where is it presently? At 90 seconds before midnight, the minute hand is closest to midnight than it has ever been before. And like other readers, you probably have questions: Who determines the proximity of the minute hand to the midnight hour? What are the factors that influence the declsion makers?
Let's begin with that last question. The factors that move the minute hand so close to midnight are the following:
- NUCLEAR RISK: Consider the present conflicting powers, the irrationality of their refusal to reconcile, and the availability of nuclear weapons that may be used if the warfare prompted extreme reactions or if a mistake was made to let loose these doomsday weapons that could destroy our civilization.
- CLIMATE CHANGE: While the clean energy transition in our societies has offered us some hope, the fundamental issues of climate change remain a political obstruction among the world's nations that undermines the necessary action required to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
- BIOLOGICAL THREATS: Increasing numbers of individuals and groups work in this area with potential benefits for humanity, but also increased risks that mishaps in laboratories or mismanagement may let loose a devastating agent or agents that could swarm over people, training facilities, individuals, and nations, paralyzing any prospect for recovery before civilization itself is devastated.
- DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES: The arrival of generative artificial intelligence has sprung on research laboratories, controlling agencies, and governmental regulations seemingly overnight. No one knows where this may be headed, how it may be directed in the services of humankind, and/or the extent it may become destructive in the hand of rogue players.
You can see what concerns the panel of atomic scientists who balance these potential destructive concerns with the urgent need to contain them in the service of avoiding catastrophic mayhem not only within the laboratories of research but also within and between nation states. In addition, we must consider the outliers who want to control the potentialities of their power for their own narcissistic benefit but also, in some most alarming instances, for the purpose of destroying civilization itself.
Thus, the question in our title evolves.
Today, it is more seemly to ask not, "Why can't we be happy?", but rather, "How can we be happy?" Well, of course, it does us no good to despair or to throw up our hands in helpless defeat. Yes, it is indeed 90 seconds before midnight. Yes, there are a significant number of our population who are (1) ignorant of the fact, (2) dismissive of the destructive potential facing us, (3) lost in anger, divisiveness, and paranoia, (4) defiant in belief that all of this is liberal political propaganda, etc.
And, as I remind my analysands and members of my dream group, I have no record of dreams that suggest our end is near. Sure, we have warning dreams, but everything I pick up in my dreams and the dreams of others is that we have time, but we must be conscious.
What are you dreaming? The clock keeps ticking!
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